Sanjaya -- Sandbagged by the Media?

3/20/2007 12:21 PM PDT

Sanjaya -- Sandbagged by the Media?

Inside sources close to "American Idol" wannabe Sanjaya Malakar revealed exclusively to TMZ their concerns over the effects of negative media coverage on Sanjy's standing on the show.

According to the sources, they believe that Sanjaya's landing in the bottom two last week was due to all the negative publicity he's received from the media. "It wasn't his best performance, but it wasn't the worst."

America will have to tune in tonight and see if it really is the media dogging the moptopped bottomed-out singer, or if his singing is what's bringing him down. Tonight, the top 11 will perform songs from the 60's British Invasion. One thing's for sure: Sanjaya's got the hair thing down!